Music

VÉRITÉ Talks Her Upcoming Debut Album: 'Somewhere in Between'

VÉRITÉ makes music from the heart, and that also means that deep down it’s for her, and no one else. But wait: that doesn’t mean that she’s neglecting her fanbase (it grows by the hour, so it’s hardly possible to ignore)—on the contrary, though her music is mighty personal, it’s also grounded in community and gratitude. In the words of the artist herself—”I want people to feel like they’re super welcome and that it’s a good place for them to be, and that they’re in this with me because they are.”

With a debut album (Somewhere in Between) set to drop on June 30, a just-completed European tour, and two new singles recently released to tide us over (that’s “When You’re Gone” and “Bout You”, for the uninitiated), it seems that VÉRITÉ is proving sound on her promise—to deliver a deeply personal brand of electro-synth that’s making our hearts throb and ears beg for more. If indie pop is her chosen territory, consider it charted.

How are you?

Great! I’m sitting on a balcony—open spaces, so I’m happy.

Amazing, where are you?

I’m back home. I just got home a few days ago so I’ve been, like, sleeping.

So it’s self-care time.

Yeah, it’s the little things like sleep that you take for granted and you’re like “Oh, this is the thing that I can do until 11.”

Totally. Well, I know you’re gearing up for your debut album to release, how are you feeling about that?

I feel really good. It’s one of those things that, it’s always this kind of slow build up a rollercoaster one step at a time. So, I’m excited to kind of drop, and just I guess share it and see how people feel with it.

Do you feel like there’s a narrative that kind of ties all the songs together? Or is it more of a compilation?

For me, there’s definitely a thread that runs through it. Not so much a narrative, but more so all of the songs are just my analysis of existing and kind of feeling disconnected, feeling bored, trying to figure out—you know, I guess make meaning out of what I’m experiencing, just on a daily basis. And so that is kind of a massive generalization but I think that that can be seen throughout each song in different ways.

I know you worked with some big producer names—guys like Tim Anderson, Liam Howe, and Peter Thomas. What is it like working with those guys and just seeing your vision for the album come to life?

It’s great. I’m really lucky to work with people who really understand the vision that I have for the project and who are willing to kind of work alongside me to make that a reality. So I definitely really love this mutual back and forth where they keep direction really well but also can anticipate what I want when I get stuck on something. And that, to me, was a very nice thing to be able to rely on them in that way.

Totally. What’s your creative process like? Like for each song, does it all come to you at once or is it a slow build?

It’s definitely a slow build. Like, I’m already starting to write for album two now, and it’s funny it’s like the same exact process. I collect ideas at all times to capture in a lot of videos, I jot down ideas, and then just as I am traveling or kind of taking any time in my mind, I just piece them together very slowly. And when I legit time kind of at home, I’ll demo them out and kind of create a full song or a full idea around it, and from there I’ll bring it to a producer and I usually the strategically bring it to different producers based on their strengths and how it sounds in my head. And then we kind of build it up from there.

Do you feel like it’s a cathartic process, just getting all of that on paper and then seeing it come together as a fully-produced track?

Yes, and no. I have a really strange experience. For me, the most cathartic process in the writing process is when it’s fully written and I’m touring it and I’m playing it live. That, for me is where the catharsis comes. I feel like everything leading up to that is just anxiety. So, it’s just one of those things that once the recording is finished, I never look into the recording again, basically. And then I just reinterpret for live, and that’s kind of where, I don’t know, it feels best. But you have to kind of go through each step to get to your favorite point.

That was going to be my next question—are you still on tour or did you guys finish up?

We just finished up—so I was on tour in Europe for a while and then I took this crazy impulsive road trip across from LA to New York. It was fun, but it was just crazy. So now I’m home until August.

I know the studio setting is more intimate and more produced, and then performing is just like a totally different ball game. Which do you prefer?

I mean, I definitely prefer playing live. But like I said, you can’t have one without the other, so there’s part of me that likes both. To me, getting to play people the music—that energy, and then getting to meet them afterwards. I don’t like to step on stage, play, and then ditch everybody. I want to create a community around it, and I want people to feel like they’re super welcome and that it’s a good place for them to be, and that they’re in this with me because they are. You know, I couldn’t do this without people coming to shows and people listening to the album. And so I just wanna show people my appreciation for that as much as possible. And so that vibe and energy is something that I need in order to keep going.

So since you released “Bout You” and “When You’re Gone”, what’s the feedback been like so far? Have you had a good reception?

Yeah, I’ve been really lucky that I haven’t really released a song that has gotten bad reception. So I guess I’m waiting for the other two to drop—hopefully they do well!

But, you know, there’s always been this really positive momentum around the music that I’ve released and I’m really grateful for that because it’s not like I’m selling myself out in order to put out things that I think people will like. I write the music I want to write, and then kind of leave it up to people to interpret as they will.

So I know the album is about to drop, but what’s next for you besides that for the rest of the year and beyond that?

I mean, the rest of this year is kind of up in the air as it always is, like, I say I’ll be home until August but really who knows? I’m just kind of always ready to move, but I’m definitely touring, I’ll definitely be back in Europe at some point. I’ll definitely be working on new music and really just growing as much as possible in the next few months.